Ever since our wonderful clients Jill and John wrote a blog entry for us a while back, we've been on the lookout for ideal guest blog entries. One of the first ideas I had was our current client and near-future bride, Erin. You might remember Erin from her and Josh's engagement session last week. Now, normally, I wouldn't ask a woman in the midst of planning a wedding to write a blog entry for us, but she has become quite an accomplished blogger in her own rite. In fact, a few months ago, she set out on a journey to write a blog entry a day detailing the road to her wedding. She committed to a blog post per day until the big day! And if you have ever taken on blogging, you know what a task that is. The best part is that she's done beautifully! I've subscribed to her blog on my google reader and I've enjoyed getting to know her and Josh better along the way! So without further ado, enjoy Erin's insightful tips on wedding planning from what she has learned so far. Oh, and be sure to check out her blog!

Hi there! My name is Erin and I am marrying my best friend and the love of my life on June 25th, 2011. Peter asked me to write a post about whatever I wanted (and boy, was that dangerous!). I decided to write a little ditty on what I've learned during the past 16 months of my 18 month engagement. So here goes:

1. Do what you want to do. The wedding is about the bride and groom. If you want purple flowers, get purple flowers. If you want to serve escargot, "go" for it (really, though, don't...it's pretty gross). If you want to wear hot pink shoes, do it! Other people are going to try to give you input. Take what advice you want, but don't try to please everyone. It's not their day, it's yours! 2. Don't stress over the little stuff. Chances are, you're the only person that will notice when a little detail isn't exactly right! And it's really not worth a Bridezilla moment because something is the wrong shade of green. 3. Don't forget that your friends have lives too. Your world may be 100% wedding, but your friends have things going on in their lives too! Don't forget to care for them. And don't expect them to make it to every wedding-related event. Their job is to stand up with you on your wedding day, not cater to your every need! 4. Book vendors that you feel comfortable with! This should be a no-brainer, but unfortunately, that's not always the case. If your gut is telling you to talk away, listen to it! I absolutely adore all my vendors! (Advertisement: I'm pretty sure our favorite vendor is Peter!) 5. Express your gratitude to every person who has done something for you during your engagement/relationship. Whether it be attending your engagement party or having you over to chat about wedding plans or offering to do your hair on the day of your wedding, make sure they know how much you appreciate them! 6. Take time for yourself. Wedding planning is stressful enough by itself. When you add in work or school and the rest of your life, it can get pretty overwhelming. Get a manicure or buy a new shirt. It can really brighten your mood! You may think that spending money on yourself that could be used towards the wedding would be a waste, but trust me. It's worth every penny. 7. Start early. Now I'm not a huge promoter of super long engagements, but I do have to say that our 18-month engagement has allowed me a lot more time to acquire certain aspects of our wedding. It has helped me spread out my spending so I'm not going broke. And it allowed us to get the big things out of the way (venue, photographer and dress)and then we had time to actually enjoy being engaged. And just remember, it's only one day. Don't go broke over it! 8. Spend time with your fiance/ee on non-wedding related things! If I talked about our wedding plans non-stop to Josh, he would probably get pretty bored and/or annoyed. Make sure you take time as a couple to reconnect and not get too caught up in the planning process. 9. Book a honeymoon! I am yearning for our luxurious trip to Cancun! I know that I am going to be dead tired after it is all said and done, and a tropical vacation is just what I'm going to need. I think it's going to be great to relax with my husband for a week before entering this thing called "married life." 10. Don't forget what the day is all about! While a wedding reception is largely seen as a really great party, the ceremony happens first for a reason. The whole day is a celebration of your love for each other and about the joining of two lives into one. At the end of the day, if you're married, that's all that matters!

Going into wedding planning, I had NO idea what to expect. I've hit some hurdles and found an amazing venue and an amazing photographer to capture mine and Josh's true personalities. We cannot wait to start our lives together! If you want to see what our wedding planning process has looked like, check out my blog: http://brideinwaiting2011.blogspot.com

Wedding planning tips from a soon-to-be bride!

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